Ways to order the E-ZPass to pay tolls

December 08, 2013

As the Feb. 1 deadline draws near for tolling to begin on the Elizabeth River tunnels, readers have been asking where they can find more information about the E-ZPass transponders, the main way the Virginia Department of Transportation wants to collect tolls on the tunnels.

There will be no toll booths with cashiers, card readers or change hoppers. Instead, tolls will be collected either from the transponders, which attach to the windshield, or by photographing a vehicle's license plate and mailing an invoice to the registered owner.

To find out more about the E-Zpass, visit the main website is at http://www.ezpassva.com. If you click the "info center" button on the main page, you will find a link to a page of FAQs, or frequently asked questions. A link to the order-your-pass page is on the left side of the webpage.

The main page also has a link that shows you where you can use your E-ZPass on bridges, tunnels and toll roads. Virginia is part of a larger E-ZPass network of states. Locally, in addition to the downtown tunnels, they are in use at the Coleman Bridge (Route 17) and the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge.

You can order on the website, or by phone at 1-877-762-7824.

The website states that orders made online or by phone will be filled within two days. The website also lists several locations at which you can buy an E-ZPass.

Incoming secretary absent

One chair was conspicuously empty at Wednesday's Commonwealth Transportation Board meeting in Richmond. Hampton Roads District Board member Aubrey Layne did not attend the meeting, which was Sean Connaughton's last as state secretary of transportation.

In November, Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe named Layne as the incoming transportation secretary. Layne also did not attend the November Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization Board meeting.

At Wednesday's session, board member at-large W. Sheppard Miller III, of Virginia Beach, who represents urban communities, saluted Connaughton in the meeting's final minutes. Connaughton responded: "I'll miss you all, but I am out of here."

HRT Board meeting this week

The Hampton Roads Transit governing board will hold its last monthly meeting of the year on Thursday at 1 p.m. in Norfolk at 509 E. 18 Street, Building 4. The agenda for the public meeting has not yet been posted, but HRT officials and board members said the board likely will discuss the transit system's long range plan, the Virginia Department of Transportation's new funding formula to provide state funding for capital projects and a report from the operations and oversight committee, which met on Dec. 5.